There is a thread about team 1432 needing some help, and I don’t want to hijack that thread, so I will start a new discussion here.
There have been some good points made about planning and taking steps to protect your team. Here are links to two CD white papers that deal with this topic -
Team Continuity Planning - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2245
This presentation talks about how to identify challenges and risks to your team, and then take steps to manage or elimate them.
One of the keys to sustainability, for a business, a team, any organization, it to continually evaluate the things that could go wrong and manage the ones that you can. Taking some time to evaluate your team and the circumstances around your organization could help you remain a viable team in the future.
I’ve been saying this for a while. We run a $35,000-$70,000 per year business with $10,000-$30,000 worth of capital equipment in tools and another $5,000 to $20,000 in parts. So you should think like you have a $50,000 to $120,000 company to run. FIRST does a lot to promote business like activities (you can get an award for having and executing a business plan, in the real world that just gets you a chance to keep your business running another month).
We are all in tight business times, real world and FIRST robot world. As Chris says, time to evaluate, plan and execute.
Mentor stability is the main driving force to my team surviving 20 years of FIRST. Many of our mentors have been with the team for over a decade or more. It makes the students job that much more easier when you have people on the team who have been there done that.
Having the same (sole) sponsor and the same school are also a huge part of our success.
READ THIS. We read it a few years back and then did the typical, “That’s great, but we are pretty stable…”
Since then we have dealt with mentor job relocations, main sponsor funding issues, and … Had we taken the time to actually do the analysis on all the weaknesses, a lot of scary moments wouldn’t have been so scary.
When times are good, and people are friendly is the best time to work through one of these plans. When times are trying, and things get scary, your brain switches over to survival mode, and conversations can get ugly. You change from analytical to reactionary. Reactionary is great for avoiding being hit by a car, or running away from a tiger. It is horrible for trying to have a meaningful conversation with your school/sponsor/burnt out mentor about what options are on the table, and how your team can handle the transition to one of those options. Reactions often cause other reactions instead of Positive Actions.
Another tip is to just write things down. Just because one person has done a specific task for the past ten years doesn’t mean they will be around to do it for another ten. If you write down lessons learned, processes, team goals, and future plans, it is much easier to pass on the knowledge if someone were to move on for whatever reason. Having written documentation also helps make sure that everyone is on the same page.